I have made a few deductions about the new Collector for ArcGIS app (not classic), which I'm hoping a Collector developer could either validate or invalidate, with an explanation as to whether any solutions are in the development queue.
This has come about, as I am planning a Collector web map for a large area covering part of Yorkshire, UK, and I have noticed some potentially unworkable functionality within the new app.
1. If I have created a Map Area in the web map settings (for downloading a map for offline use), this managed area also clips the feature layers within the web map. This is fine if you are only working with 1 managed area, but if you have 2 overlapping areas, features that fall within the overlap are downloaded into 2 independant runtime .geodatabases on the device. Therefore, if you are editing a feature within one Map Area (within the overlap), that edit isn't reflected when you switch to the other Map Area (unless you sync your edits back to AGOL). This would cause problems if you are modifying land parcels for instance, as the edits to one parcel in one area would need to be reflected in the other map area if you need to edit neighbouring parcels etc etc.
Am i missing something here? Surely the solution would be to have the option to download basemaps and feature layers independantly of each other, and then we able to switch your map areas via the Basemap Gallery within the app?
2. In iOS, if you have Map Areas defined, you still have the option to add a new offline area within the app, but not within the Android version.
3. In iOS, if you are working online with the default basemap and switch to a map from the basemap gallery, you still have the option to switch back to the default map afterwards. In Android, you don't see your default basemap in the gallery, so if you switch basemaps, you lose access to the default map until you restart the collector app.
4. With both iOS and Android, if you are working with an offline map, you don't have the option to switch to an alternative offline basemap that you have stored on your device (unlike the Classic app). This is pretty critical, if data collection requires access to aerial imagery in conjunction with high res vector mapping. In addition, if a phone has the capacity, then it's far easier to provide a Field Worker with a TPK of aerial imagery, and either a VTPK or TPK of Mapping or OSM for the entire County (or even Country) which would cover them for multiple Web Maps.
Is this part of the roadmap for the new app any time soon? In the WebMap settings on AGOL, you have the option to "Device will use a tile package it already has." and then declare the name of that package on the device. It seems that ESRI have made a clear decision to restrict users to only 1 offline basemap for each web map.
Hoping someone reads this who can save me time trying to come up with workaround workflows.
Cheers,
David
